Food

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I am just curious as to what you feed your Berner? We are looking into switching our current kibble (Holistic Blend) to either the Raw food diet, or a different brand of kibble that is higher in protein. Just wondering what your thoughts and opinions are on this topic!
Looking forward to reading your replies,

I do not have any experience with Raw Food Diets but we feed Emma Hill's Prescription Diet J/D. Its a joint health formula that is high in omega fatty acids and other supplements that support healthy joint functions. We have had great results with it. The cats love it too because it has a slight fish odor...even though they are limited to the two to three kibbles that miss or get slung out of the bowl.

Both my Berners are Raw Fed. Bosley was weaned to raw at his breeders when he was a pup and comes from generations of raw fed dogs. Maggie was switched to raw at about 18 months old when we brought Bosley home. I like feeding raw - there is a lot of flexiblity to the diet and you have complete control over what your dogs eat.

What do you do for a picky eater? I've tried turkey necks raw and koda wouldn't touch them. Barely wanted to put his teeth on them. Lily just crunched away immediately. I'd like to try more raw, but he seems to not like it much. Maybe it's the turkey? He liked the juice from a liver steak I dehydrated for treats.

He is also a picky kibble eater. Gets bored with it. I put tripe in sometimes or add some cooked chicked sometimes to make it more appealing.

Koda is on Innova Large Breed Puppy and had Orijen Large Breed Puppy prior. Next up (about a month) we are switching to adult food and will be trying Acana Grasslands.

I've feed Nutra Brands (EVO and Innova) which are chicken based proteins, but switched over to Merrick brand "Grammy's Pot Pie" flavor, also chicken protein because I wanted to feed an Organic protein due to the high cancer issues out there with BMD's. I figure if I'm eating as much organics to stay away from too many hormones and pesticides I should try and do the same for my dogs. Besides, the Grammy's has a nice coating that turns into a gravey when mixed with hot water which my boys enjoy. Especially since one is not a big eater.

May I ask, why do you want higher protein? Just curious if you've heard something positive about feeding higher protein?

I don't do the raw thing, although people swear by it, but I travel too much and asking others to deal with the hassle of it is too much. Plus, my dogs go on the road with me at times, and it's just too much to deal with.

We have a golden mix on the J/D food and we absolutely love it and recommend it to everyone, but our Oscar (a Berner) has some special dietary needs. We tried making our own food for him for a while with brown rice, veggies, and lean proteins, but it seemed to create digestive problems. Now we have him on the Royal Canin Hypoallergenic food. His coat is gorgeous now (so shiny!) but the effects as far as lessening his allergies have been mixed.

no offense to those who feed SD, but ingrediant wise it's pretty low grade. i'd recommend going to the nutrition forum and reading what BabBam has to say about large breed nutrition. i'll bump his post for you.

I'm 8 years old, 118 lbs., which my Doctor says is good for me. (At one time I was 138 lbs. and formidable!) My guardians found that I'm allergic to something in almost every brand of dog food. So now they prepare my food themselves. I eat twice a day. My typical meal is a half chicken breast, pasta or baked potato, 1/2 can of mixed vegetables, and cottage cheese. I love eating now -- you might say I'm thriving.